


Sweet, Sweet Revenge

by Asynca



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gen, because you KNOW you love this trope
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:55:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24617935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asynca/pseuds/Asynca
Summary: Tenzin's far too smug about his happy family, and Kya wants to knock him down a peg. She enlists Lin Beifong's help with the task.
Relationships: Lin Beifong/Kya II
Comments: 97
Kudos: 357





	1. Chapter 1

For someone wearing soft leather-soled boots and who was supposed to be moving with grace and elegance (or whatever nonsense waterbenders peddled about themselves), Kya was certainly stomping around like a whole herd of camelephants outside Chief Beifong’s door.

The chief put her pen down. As if it wasn’t enough that she had a stack of reports full of the worst penmanship she’d ever seen in a bunch of new recruits—so bad she could hardly read a single word they wrote!—now she had her extended ‘family’ breaking down her door at work. She rubbed her temples. Could this day get _any_ worse? “Are you going actually come in?” she called. “Or are you just going to hover around my door wearing grooves in my floorboards?”

The door opened slightly and Kya peeked in. “Sorry, I just wasn’t sure if you were busy.”

“I _am_ busy.”

Kya pursed her lips, looking a little sheepish. “Right, and I totally respect that,” she said, at first seeming genuine. It faded quickly. “But I also need a favour.”

Lin exhaled audibly, feeling herself sag. “When are you going back to the South Pole again?” she muttered to herself before straightening. “Well, what is it?”

Rather than simply answering her question, Kya let herself into Lin’s office and wandered and the most infuriating leisurely pace over to the long briarwood desk where she was seated. Her fingertips trailed over one of the polished knots in the wood. “Nice setup you have here.”

Like everything, the desk had been her mother’s. The comment grated her. “What’s the favour?”

Before Kya could answer, however, she spied a picture frame in front of Lin and was reaching for it with delight. Lin’s hand darted across the table and snatched it away. It was a photo of her and her sister with Mom, taken just recently. She didn’t want to find out what Kya had to say about it, so she stowed it quickly in the drawer beside her. “Please, for the love of all things good in this world, just say what you want to say and then leave so I can finish these damn reports.”

Kya’s hand was frozen in the position it had been when she was about to take the picture frame. She relaxed it, laughing. “You know, every time I’m away for a few years I forget what you’re like! Fine, chief,” she said, mercifully about to finally arrive at her actual point, “I need your help with something tonight.”

Tonight? “I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Of course you don’t,” Kya said, waving that comment away with a hand. “It’s Tenzin’s fifteenth wedding anniversary and he’s having a—”

“No,” Lin didn’t need to hear the end of this. “Find someone else for whatever foolish stunt you’re obviously planning, I won’t be part of your little prank war with him.”

Kya ignored her, continuing. “—a small dinner with just me and Bumi since we’re both in town. Anyway, his exact words were, ‘I’d offer you to invite your partners, but—’ then did that blank face he does, with the innocent eyebrows, ‘that’s right! I’m the only one who has one’. Then he wandered away, chuckling.”

Lin’s own eyebrows were down over her eyes. “So you want to invite yet another single person along to what, exactly? Outnumber him? Hammer the point home that he’s the only one of us who’s managed a family of their own?”

Kya leant indulgently forward on Lin’s desk. “Oh, no,” she said, eyes twinkling. “I want to mess with him.”

Lin began to feel uncomfortable. “Why am _I_ essential to that?”

Kya looked positively delighted with herself. “Because you’re going to come as my date and we’re going to—”

“ _WHAT_?” Her voice was so loud that several people on the street outside stopped in place to peer wide-eyed through the window. Lin swallowed, lowering her voice to a whisper. “No! No. Get out.”

Unfortunately, Kya was used to her. “So you’re just going to let Tenzin get away with that comment?”

“Well, he’s right. We just have to accept that.”

Kya rolled her eyes. “Yes, but you don’t just _say_ things like that to your dearest sister and brother.”

Lin’s lips were in a tight, thin line. Her and Su had frequently said much worse. “I’m not doing it.”

“You know he’s probably sitting in the afternoon sun with Pema right now,” she said with exaggerated wistfulness. “Still laughing to himself and thinking about how great he is with his sweet, loving wife who’s given him about a hundred sweet, loving childr—”

Lin felt her cheeks heat up. “Can you _stop_?”

“You know what he’s like. He thinks he’s better than us.”

 _And he always has_ , Lin found herself thinking as she sucked in air through her teeth. That mental image Kya had provided of him and Pema giggling being all cutesy with each other made her positively _ill_.

“I just want to knock him down a peg. Give him a bit of a shock,” Kya continued. This time, Lin let her finish. “All you have to do is dress up and arrive arm-in-arm with me. Everyone knows you’re not exactly lovey-dovey, so that will be enough.”

That— Well, that actually didn’t sound too dreadful. She watched Kya through squinted eyes, still suspicious.

“I mean, can you imagine his face if he thinks you’re happier dating _his sister_ than you ever were with him?”

Lin _could_ imagine it (Tenzin always had the most wonderfully expressive face), but she wasn’t completely sold on how it ended. “And when he finds out it’s all a ruse?”

“He’ll feel stupid, of course! And it will serve him right,” she said firmly. “He shouldn’t presume that he knows everything about our private lives.”

That particular message, Lin could very much get behind. She _hated_ visiting that damn island because of how smug they all were. How dare he think he knew what she was doing with her life, anyway? “It’ll just be family? No one else?”

Kya’s victorious grin spread across her whole face. “No one else.”

Lin leant against the backrest of her chair, arms crossed. She let a period of silence stretch between them long enough not to seem _too_ interested in Kya’s plan to trick Tenzin. Kya didn’t need to know how angry the whole affair still made her, sometimes. “I’ll come to the island alone and meet you by the pier.”

Kya smacked the table. “I _knew_ you’d do it!” she declared. “Wear something nice. Something to remind him what he’s not getting anymore.”

Lin already had the perfect dress in mind. “Mmm,” she said non-committally, and then gestured to the stack of paperwork in front of her. “Now, if you don’t mind, I need to get back to these reports.”

Clearly not wanting to press her luck, Kya mock-saluted at her. “You got it, chief! See you tonight,” she said on her way out. Then, as if on a dare, she added coyly over her shoulder, “My sweet turtledove.”

Lin had such a visceral reaction to those words that she could have gagged. Pointing to the door, she ordered, “ _Out!_ ”


	2. Chapter 2

Lin was lucky her dress still fit, because it had been at least a decade since she’d bought it. In fact, it had been in her drawer for so long she’d spent the best part of an entire hour trying to iron the creases out. After she was done, she pulled it over her head and spent a minute or two in front of the mirror, scrutinizing her appearance.

She looked—well, older than she had when she’d bought it. “Honestly, what did you expect?” she asked herself. “You’re not 35 anymore.”

Most of the dress wasn’t that different than her usual formal wear: it was long and slender, but a much lighter, much more aggressive shade of pale green than the traditional earth kingdom colours she typically preferred. She’d bought the fabric because it had matched her eyes, but then the tailor had misunderstood what she meant by ‘I should probably wear something a _bit_ feminine’ and had given it a precipitously plunging neckline. Because of that, she’d ended up transporting it directly from the tailor to her bottom drawer because it seemed inappropriate for a police chief to be seen in something so revealing.

 _Well, I’m not Chief Beifong tonight,_ she decided, _so I suppose I’d better do something with these while I still can._ She adjusted her cleavage so it swelled out of the dress in the way it was supposed to, and then she brushed her hair, dug around in the bottom of her drawer for what makeup she had, and gave herself a cursory glance before she left. She shrugged. It would have to do.

She was second-guessing her dress right up until when she alighted on the pier and Kya spotted her. Eyes as wide as saucers, Kya hurried over and held her at arms’ length for a moment, considering the dress. Then, she gulped and let her go. “Yup,” she said. “That’s going to do the trick.”

Lin couldn’t help but feel a little smug about the reaction. “Put your eyes back in their sockets,” she told her, smothering a grin.

“Working on it,” Kya said neutrally, still looking mildly stunned. “Who’d have guessed you were hiding _those_ under your uniform?”

“That’s enough,” Lin told her firmly, but felt far more confident than she had a moment before. Clearly, she had chosen the right dress to punish Tenzin with. Satisfied, she began to stride up the hill.

“Forgetting something?” it was Kya’s turn to sound smug. Lin stopped and twisted back towards her. She was standing in place with her arm out like she was expecting someone to take it.

Grumbling, Lin trudged back down to the pier, took Kya by the arm and then began up the hill again.

Kya adjusted Lin’s grip on her so it was less ‘prisoner being escorted’ and more ‘no, really, we’re dating’. “Remember, it’s got to be convincing.”

“I can be convincing.”

Kya seemed sceptical. “I suppose just the fact you’re arriving with me will be enough,” she decided. “No one who’s ever met you would think you’re the kind of person who’d play a prank on their ex for fun.”

Lin gave Kya a sharp look. “It’s not for fun, it’s to stop him from being so goddamn high and mighty about his sweet little family.”

“Right, sorry,” Kya said with a single laugh. “I forgot ‘fun’ and ‘Lin Beifong’ are mutually exclusive.” Before Lin could yank her arm free of Kya’s and take her to task, Kya grabbed onto it and nodded ahead of them. “It’s show time.”

Ahead of them, the courtyard at the crest of the hill was all lit with lanterns. Behind it, the two-level pagoda was open to let in the warm evening breeze, and there were three people seated at the low table inside. At least, there were two people seated and one person standing and waving his arms around like he was on fire. He was also yelling like he was on fire.

“And that’s when I realised that I was _on fire_!” Bumi’s voice carried across the courtyard, echoing off the flagstones. “And so there I was, chased by spidermonkeys, carrying the Queen’s urgent message to the president, with firebending bandits hot on my tail!” He stopped for a second, leant in and winked at Pema. “Get it?” he said, elbowing her. “ _Hot_ on my tail? _Firebenders_?” He stood up again so he could properly laugh at his own joke.

Pema looked as if she was ready to hit the wine _before_ dinner. She opened her mouth to probably say something to that effect when she spotted Lin and Kya stepping into the lantern light. First her eyebrows went up, then after a moment her jaw dropped halfway to the floor.

Lin’s breath caught. She had imagined that she’d feel vindicated, getting that sort of reaction from oh-so perfect Pema. Instead, she felt—exposed. Literally. Instead of being the tall, elegantly clothed messenger of justice she’d hoped to be, she wondered if perhaps she just looked ridiculous. She felt her cheeks burning.

Tenzin had begun to ask Pema what was wrong as he followed her line of sight.

 _This is it_ , Lin thought, _the moment of truth_.

When his eyes landed on Kya and Lin, just like Pema, his eyebrows lifted towards his absent hairline. Unlike Pema, however, his eyes practically bulged out of his head. “L-Lin!” he began politely as they approached the table, “What a lovely surprise to see—to see—” He was trying very, very hard not to stare directly at her cleavage. Pema noticed and Lin was pleased to see a tiny wrinkles of exasperation on her forehead. Tiny, like all her damn wrinkles. At least she was finally beginning to grey.

While Tenzin was temporarily indisposed, Kya snaked an arm around Lin’s waist. “I’m sorry I didn’t let you know Lin would be joining us,” she said, shooting a coy little glance at Lin. “I wasn’t sure I’d be able to convince her to join me. You know how Lin is about her privacy…” The way Kya was smiling across at Lin, there could be absolutely no doubt about what she meant. She was practically batting her eyelashes.

 _She’s a good actress_ , Lin realised, unable to prevent herself turning a truer shade of red than a firebender’s robe.

Fortunately for Lin, the blush must have served to make the ruse more believable, because she caught Pema subtly glance with concern at Tenzin, and sneak a hand onto Tenzin’s thigh under the table for support.

It didn’t help him much. His face was nearly as red as Lin’s and his jaw was still dangling helplessly from his face. “Y-You and _my sister_?”

Lin’s cheeks were too hot already. “What of it?” she asked shortly. “Did you think I’d stay single forever?” She sounded more flustered than she’d intended.

Tenzin’s tragic beagle eyes were almost too much. “No, of course not! I just—well, I just didn’t know that you were—”

“That she’s what, Tenzin?” Kya was having altogether too much fun with his. She bent down and puffed Lin’s pillow before inviting her to sit on it. Tenzin didn’t want to answer. He just closed his jaw and the veins in his temples popped out.

As Lin let herself be ushered to sit, Kya continued. “Truth be told, I don’t think Lin knew, either. But, what can I say,” she grinned, waggling her eyebrows, “you’re not the only one in this family who has a way with women.”

Lin lost the battle with the veins on her own temples.

Bumi laughed loudly along with Kya, having recovered far too quickly for Lin to think he wasn’t in on the whole thing. “If I’d known Lin was going to finally agree to come along, I’d have invited that sweet dame from Ba Sing Se I met during my tour there! She still writes me letters, you know. Always enclosing a lock of her lovely long black hair...”

Kya scoffed. “You’ve been telling us _that_ one for so long, I’m surprised this mystery woman has any hair left,” she commented. “Or that it’s still black.”

Bumi gave her a haughty look. “Hair grows, Kya,” he informed her. “And not everyone goes grey as early as you did.” He combed a hand through his still-mostly-brown hair to demonstrate.

While Kya and Bumi were butting heads, Tenzin was frowning again. “Wait, Bumi, you _knew_ about Kya and Lin?”

To his credit, Bumi was actually believable for once. He shrugged. “I’ve wondered if there was something going on between these two lovebirds since our last vacation here. It’s been obvious for ages.”

Tenzin’s puppy eyes made a return. “It has?” He looked stricken, like he’d committed some dreadful crime against Lin. His face pleaded for her forgiveness.

Lin swallowed, but pushed her discomfort down somewhere else to worry about later. _He cheated on you_ , she reminded herself, _with someone who was barely an adult at the time._ Despite that, she still had to look away from his guilt-riddled expression before she had one of her own.

Perfect Pema cleared her throat. “Well, I think it’s wonderful,” she said, sounding sickeningly genuine. “I’m glad you’ve finally found someone else, Lin.” _Finally_? “It’s just a shame it didn’t happen in time for you to have your own family.” She gave Lin a big, warm smile.

Lin nearly flipped the table over and went for her throat.

It was Kya’s turn to sneak a hand onto Lin’s knee, although more in quiet restraint than quiet support. She looked as if she was thoroughly enjoying herself. “Anyway, sorry about springing this on you on your anniversary.”

“Oh, that’s perfectly alright!” Pema said with her usual brightness. “Unexpected doesn’t always mean bad! Sometimes unexpected things can be a blessing…” Tenzin and Pema shared a glance.

Lin felt uneasy about that glance. She, Kya and Bumi shared one of their own.

“Actually, there’s something we wanted to tell all of you, since you’re here.” Pema lay a hand on her stomach. “Kya and Bumi, you two are going to be an aunt and uncle again.”

 _Again_? Lin lost her fight with her self-restraint, and could only imagine how her face looked. What was that now, five? _Six_? Where did they find so much time to procreate? Clearly Air Temple island needed to find actual jobs for their acolytes.

Kya and Bumi had their own mixed expressions. Kya spoke first. “That’s _great_ ,” she said slowly. It sounded almost genuine.

Bumi laughed. “Not just great, it’s _fantastic_!” he said. “With you two popping out all these kids all over the place, it takes the pressure of _us_ to have any!” He finally plonked himself down beside Lin and Kya. “Maybe you’ll finally have that non-bender this time. Or a late bloomer, like me!”

Pema had a pained expression. “A late-bloomer, I could deal with.”

Tenzin put a hand over Pema’s on her ever so slightly round tummy. “Well, I hope our baby is another strong, healthy airbender,” he said, patting her stomach. “The Air Nation may be in recovery thanks to the spirits, but we’ve got a long way to go before it’s a thriving people again.”

Lin’s voice was as dry as a bone. “And how selfless of you to be working so hard at rebuilding it.”

“Someone has to.” Pema said neutrally, smiling at Lin. Her eye contact was too direct for Lin to think she was just being pleasant, even though she sounded it. “I feel so lucky I’m the one to help him. It’s such a small sacrifice to make, in the scheme of things, especially since I love children.” She paused, making a face. “Most of the time, anyway…” She and Tenzin chuckled affectionately together about that.

To Lin, every single part of that felt like a direct frontal assault: that Tenzin chose her over Lin, the fact Lin hadn’t been prepared to sacrifice her career in order to repopulate the Air Nation, the fact that Lin could only tolerate children, and finally that Tenzin and Pema now had this private life with private in-jokes they shared together.

The worst of it was that they were so damn _cute_ together. Cute to the point it made her slightly ill. Angry, and ill. And now she had this—this _hussy_ rubbing that all in her face.

She saw red. She was _not_ going to sit here and be made to feel like she was second best because she had dedicated her life to protecting the fine citizens of Republic City instead of being reclined in bed on a secluded island permanently pregnant with airbender babies. Reaching across the gap between her and Kya, she took Kya’s hand. “And _I_ feel lucky I’ve found someone who isn’t trying to constantly change me into someone I’m not for his own benefit.”

It was a low blow, Lin knew that. But if he was going to let Pema take pot-shots at her (supposing the _fool_ even noticed it was happening!), then she wasn’t going to sit still and take the beating, no matter whose anniversary it was.

Kya’s eyes rested on hers for a moment before taking a peek over at Tenzin. He’d stopped laughing. Clearly sensing a moment of vulnerability, Kya went for the kill. Carefully watching Lin to make sure she wasn’t going to get shoved away, she leant over, kissed Lin’s cheek and lay her head on Lin’s shoulder. Her hair smelt like arctic poppies. “From what you’ve told me about Tenzin, Lin, I’m so happy you’re not with him anymore,” she said. Lin felt Kya’s eyelashes flutter against her skin as she closed her eyes. “I’d never hurt you by asking you to change for me.”

The punch landed—probably far truer than Kya had intended. Lin could see the pain on Tenzin’s face. His expression was one of horror and deep regret, and with such earnesty that felt like she’d been punched in the chest herself. Sure, he _had_ cheated on her. He _had_ wanted her to change—but he’d never asked it of her. He wasn’t like that. He’d just tried to love her as best he could but it was never going to last. _This is too much_ , Lin thought, feeling sick. _This isn’t what I signed up for._

She stood, extricating herself from Kya. “I need some air,” she announced, and then fled to the other side of the courtyard that was hidden from view of the pagoda, feeling a little breathless.

The wind on her bare chest was an unnatural feeling for her; she drew up the extra fabric around her neck and held it in a fist. What on earth was she doing?

When there were footsteps behind her, she expected them to be Kya’s. They were heavier, though, and they came from someone who moved differently and had longer strides. “Tenzin.”

He stopped some distance behind her, shifting his weight anxiously between his feet. She could hear him breathing heavily through his nose in the way he did when he was uncomfortable. “Lin, I’m so sorry,” he said at last. “I really am. I never meant to make you feel that you were wrong in some way, or not good enough for me.”

She grimaced, forward leaning against the wooden railing. Her immediate reflex was to reassure him that he hadn’t ever made her feel like that; except he had, even if he hadn’t intended to. She still felt like a terrible person for dredging up the past, though. He didn’t deserve it. “It’s alright, Tenzin,” she ended up saying.

“After Dad died, I was the only airbender. I need to have children, and Pema _loves_ children, and she’s so good with them...”

 _She’s good with you, too_ , Lin realised. As much as she was pained to admit it. “I know.”

He took a few steps behind her and put one of his big hands on her shoulder. His skin was warm. “I never wanted to hurt you.”

Lin’s lips were in a thin, tight line. The truth was, she _had_ wanted to hurt him for a while, very much so. That was a long, long time ago now. She felt a little sick to her stomach about bringing it back to the present. “I don’t want to hurt you either.”

They stood like that for a little while, and then he squeezed her shoulder and stepped away. “It’s very nice to see you,” he said honestly. “And you look beautiful tonight. Then again, you always did.”

She glanced up at him and they shared a smile that stabbed her directly in the heart. She’d really come here to play a prank on this poor man? To what, teach him a lesson? Of the two of them, he clearly wasn’t the one who needed schooling.

“It’s wonderful you’ve found someone who makes you happy,” he said, and then grimaced a little. “I mean, it’s a little awkward that it’s a woman, and that the woman is my sister, but…” He managed a smiled that crinkled the cheerful birds feet at the corner of his eyes. “The Air Nation celebrates love in all its forms. I’m happy for you two.”

Lin felt sick. _I should do the right thing and tell him_ , she thought, but couldn’t bring herself to. He turned and walked slowly back up to the pagoda, none the wiser about the ruse Lin and Kya were pulling.

Lin was still staring at the lights of Republic City glowing on the horizon and locked in a should-she, shouldn’t-she about telling him the truth when she had another visitor.

This time, Kya _did_ sneak up on her. “Hey, sweet cheeks,” she said in Lin’s ear, smacking her rear so she yelped.

Lin recovered and gave her a blistering glare. After a moment, though, she just sighed.

Kya’s grin faded. “Uh oh,” she said, “I know what that look means, that means, ‘Kya, we need to tell Tenzin the truth’.” She imitated Lin’s gruff, no-nonsense tone.

Any other time, Lin might have fired something back at her. Now, she just sighed. “I can’t lie to him.”

Kya gave an exaggerated sigh of her own. “Fine, I guess the show’s over, then. We’ll go back and—”

“—I can’t tell him the truth, either. Not now. It’s such an awful thing for us to do to him.”

Kya’s eyebrows jumped. “Okay, well, that kind of puts us in a predicament, because those are your two choices.” She spent a moment or so leaning on the railing considering Lin. When she spoke again, it was much more gently. “If it’s any consolation, I thought this would just be a bit of fun. I didn’t know there was still bad feelings between you, or I’d never have suggested it.”

Bad feelings? Lin made a face. “There isn’t bad feelings, not really.” She swore. “Goddamnit Kya, what were we thinking? This was a _terrible_ idea.”

Kya at least looked genuinely guilty. “I’m sorry, I really thought you and Tenzin had made up and you were mostly fine with Pema now!”

Lin scrunched up her face. “I am. He and Pema are good together. I accepted that a long time ago.”

“Yeah, they certainly are cute…” There was something about Kya’s tone.

Lin cringed, remembering them both rubbing Pema’s belly. “A little _too_ cute.”

“I know, right? It’s actually kind of gross.”

Lin had to chuckled at that; her feelings exactly. They shared a grin.

Kya exhaled. “So, chief,” she asked. “What do you want to do about all this?”

Lin pressed her lips together. She _should_ tell the truth, she knew she should. She’d feel much better if she did, and honestly was knitted into every fibre of Lin’s being. But… how would it make _him_ feel? That she’d hurt him for fun? _I didn’t mean to_! She quickly promised herself, but it didn’t matter what she meant to do.

If she couldn’t tell him she’d played a prank on him, and she couldn’t lie to him because she _hated_ lying, what other choice was there?

Kya had been watching her struggle with the decision. She opened her mouth, spending a few moments considering her words before she spoke. “I have a radical proposal for you. You want to hear it?”

Lin wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that, but at this point she was ready to consider any proposal, however radical. “Mmm.”

“If you _actually_ date me, even for just a few days, it won’t actually be a lie.”

“ _What_?” Lin hissed, and was about shoot that idea down, but… she ended up just shutting her mouth instead. After all, she was technically ‘dating’ Kya right now, wasn’t she? “That’s a terrible idea,” she said anyway.

Kya shrugged. “It’s an idea,” she pointed out. “And it means you never need to come clean and hurt him.”

Lin could feel how long and deep the furrow was between her eyebrows. “It would never work.”

“It’s working right now, isn’t it?” Kya pointed out. “All we have to do is a few days more of this. You’ll find it’s not so different to what you’re used to.” She paused, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Or not used to. How long has it been for you now?”

“Watch it,” Lin growled, shooting Kya a dirty look. It did afford her a brief opportunity to critically consider her ‘date’: Kya herself wasn’t at all unattractive, Lin supposed, as women went. _Not that I’m into that!_ she firmly promised herself, snapping her eyes forward again and feeling horribly uncomfortable.

Kya noticed, and she chuckled at the very bottom of her voice. It was quite a sensual sound that made Lin immediately return to the shade of red she’d been for most of the night. “If I _did_ agree to your terms, it wouldn’t be for anything else other than to avoid hurting Tenzin again,” she said firmly, still clutching the fabric of her dress up around her neckline. 

“Of course not,” Kya said, but she had that infuriatingly smug grin again. “So, what do you say?”

Lin pretended to spend a long time considering the offer so that Kya wouldn’t get too full of herself. In truth, she already knew her answer: she could stomach dating Kya for a few days if it would spare Tenzin the pain of hearing the truth. “Just for a few days. And _only_ in front of your family. No one else can know about this, especially not _my_ family.”

Kya mock-saluted. “You got it, chief,” she said, and then glanced back towards the lit courtyard. “And on that note, we should probably head back soon or they’re going to make all sorts of assumptions about what we’re up to.”

Lin scoffed. “No, they won’t. We’re too old for that.”

There was that low chuckle again. “Oh, we are most definitely not too old for that.” She offered Lin her arm, noting the colour of Lin’s cheeks. “Red suits you, by the way.”

Instead of smacking Kya across the head which was what she would have preferred to do, Lin looped her arm through Kya’s. “I’m beginning to understand why Tenzin hates you two.” Against what was probably her best judgement, she let Kya lead her back up to dinner.

 _It’s just for a few days_ , Lin promised herself, quietly eating her dinner and enjoying Tenzin’s obvious joy that they were all together again. She could definitely manage a few days of this, for him.


End file.
